Arab Women by Nationality - Syrian

 

Asmahan

(Amal al Atrache)

 

Syrian

b.1912 - 1944

Dancer/Singer

  • born into an aristocratic family in the Druze mountains
  • moved to Egypt in 1925 after her uncle led an uprising against the French mandate in Syria
  • began to work as a singer with her mother Princess Alia at private parties, later began to sing in night clubs with her brother Farid al Atrash
  • attracted the support of the Egyptian royal family
  • In 1937, she recorded her first song Aleik Salat Allah (For you is the prayer of God)
  • briefly married to Prince Hasan al Atrash
  • In the 1940s, Asmahan recorded her masterpieces Ya Habibi Ta'ala Lhakni (My Love Come Follow Me, Majnoun Layla (Layla Fanatic), Layali al-Uns fi Vienna (Nights of Companionship in Vienna)
  • rivallry with Umm Kulthum
  • 1942 started to co-star with her brother Farid in Egyptian feature films like Intisar al-Shabab (Victory of Youth) and Gharam Wa Intikam (Love and Revenge)
  • she stopped her performances feeling she was too aristocratic to sing in public
  • alledged to have worked with the British Intelligence during World War II. Using her connections in the Druze Mountain, she even facilitated the entry of Allied forces into Syria, through the mountain, to expel the pro-German regime of General Henri Dentz
  • died in a car accident in 1944

Zuhur, Sherifa. Asmahan's Secrets: Woman, War and Song. Austin: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2000. Print. (DWC collection Biography ML420.A92 Z85 2000)

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/zuhasp.html

Ghada Shouaa

Syrian

1973

Athlete (Heptathlon)

  • member of Syrian national basketball team 1989-90
  • came first in Hepathlon at Asian Games in 1994
  • won gold at the Gotzis, Austria championship 1995
  • won world championship in 1995
  • won gold medeal in heptalon at the Olympic Games (Atlanta) 1996
  • first Syrian to win Olympic gold medal
  • retired in 2001 due to foot injury

http://www.cafe-syria.com/Sports.htm

http://www.shouaa.com/start.html

"Shouaa, Ghada." International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports. Ed. Karen Christensen, Allen Guttmann, and Gertrud Pfister. Vol. 3. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 1009-1010. Print. 3 vols. (DWC collection REF GV709.I58 2000 v.1-3)
Nour Al Houda Karfou Syrian

Athlete

  • 2001 General Secretary of the Syrian Olympic Committee (1983-2000), was awarded the Olympic Order by the IOC. She is the first woman in the Arab Region to gain this honour.

http://www.canada2002.org/e/progress/worldwide/chapter3_asia.htm